Childhood is not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrGQGnVrLUp
The child is grown, and puts away childish things.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgeGmirAHxk
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.
Nobody that matters, that is. Distant relatives of course535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrcfvRrhK2H
Die, whom one never has seen or has seen for an hour,535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdfEPtSmXI0
And they gave one candy in a pink-and-green stripéd bag, or a jack-knife,535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhrhtvUeGwc
And went away, and cannot really be said to have lived at all.
And cats die. They lie on the floor and lash their tails,535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0u9AlBcTtB
And their reticent fur is suddenly all in motion535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoUMcU8u77z
With fleas that one never knew were there,535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzq0UR9h6CY
Polished and brown, knowing all there is to know,535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPDuGqbnwXT
Trekking off into the living world.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIheqXZVYj6
You fetch a shoe-box, but it's much too small, because she won't curl up now:535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhtXjLL0NyM
So you find a bigger box, and bury her in the yard, and weep.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwnNEvbk1j7
But you do not wake up a month from then, two months535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhG5EEiRR4s
A year from then, two years, in the middle of the night535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoNRn3WILrv
And weep, with your knuckles in your mouth, and say Oh, God! Oh, God!535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcaq5ylug8P
Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies that matters,535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmflZi7Eddr
—mothers and fathers don't die.
And if you have said, "For heaven's sake, must you always be kissing a person?"535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiL7KPlmN4W
Or, "I do wish to gracious you'd stop tapping on the window with your thimble!"535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWPsJY61yhU
Tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow if you're busy having fun,535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPohW8oUdX4
Is plenty of time to say, "I'm sorry, mother."
To be grown up is to sit at the table with people who have died,535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiskhU1csi1
who neither listen nor speak;535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQwqHXKqPln
Who do not drink their tea, though they always said535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡva7lkrVu1h
Tea was such a comfort.
Run down into the cellar and bring up the last jar of raspberries;535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9vjRm8ZGXU
they are not tempted.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkLm1RU7Plg
Flatter them, ask them what was it they said exactly535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg2y4GTTkOM
That time, to the bishop, or to the overseer, or to Mrs. Mason;535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbTKhqAvvRJ
They are not taken in.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6PwFhACQ0Y
Shout at them, get red in the face, rise,535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡikrQ8pGIPB
Drag them up out of their chairs by their stiff shoulders and shake535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡff6xAPoC9T
them and yell at them;535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ04DjTpc1P6
They are not startled, they are not even embarrassed; they slide535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5HyzBcGT4M
back into their chairs.
Your tea is cold now.535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZvWWv3cwsl
You drink it standing up,535Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlvzvNJbcfS
And leave the house.
